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Rats
Introduction
Rats are not very popular animals. People associate them with disease and the destruction of food - with some justification in the case of wild brown rats. But their domesticated cousins are another matter. Anyone who has kept a pet seems to become inordinately fond of the species. They are intelligent, friendly, fastidious animals which smell far less than mice and bite far less than hamsters.
Rat
Unless you can give a rat a great deal of attention it is kindest to keep two of the same sex together - two brothers or two sisters for instance. Your vet will tell you how to distinguish the sexes. A buck and doe will get on well with each other but will also produce babies. These, known as kittens, are enchanting once their eyes open at two weeks old but with a pregnancy lasting only 22 days and an average litter size of 10 kittens you can quickly have too much of a good thing.
Rats are weaned when around four weeks old and are ready to go to a new home when at about six or eight weeks. Keep them in a big, well ventilated but draught proof cage, not less than 2ft (60 cm) by 1 ft (30 cm) by 1 ft (30 cm) for two rats. They can be let out for supervised exercise and should be handled a lot to keep them tame. Many rats like to sit on their owners' shoulders.
Rats are fun to feed. They enjoy a variety of food like us. Wholemeal bread, pasta, oats, brown rice, cooked chicken, carrots, boiled potatoes, peanuts and sunflower seeds help to make up a balanced diet, but you may find all kinds of gourmet treats, such as avocado pear, to add occasionally. Be careful with fruit and green stuff as too much can cause diarrhoea. Rats like plenty of water.
Nowadays rats come in a variety of colours and markings. Apart from white, black and black and white, you can choose among such exotic shades as champagne, solver fawn and cinnamon pearl.
Rats are usually healthy if kept properly and cleaned out every two or three days. They sometimes get respiratort disease or skin complaints and your vet can prescribe for these.
Finally, that tail. It is covered with short sparse hairs, rather like velveteen, and is not to pick the animal up by but help it balance and keep cool.
